A Beach Story
by Anne O'Brien
Summary: Post-PP. When Danny and Sam take a little trip to the beach, they never expected for Danny to meet someone from his past, and Danny didn't know this person would have an effect so great on his present.


**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Look, I'll be honest with you. This is a one-shot..in a way. It's the longest one-shot I have EVER written. Quite frankly, I just called it a one-shot because I really don't want to make it into a chaptered story. I don't really like it that way. Plus, it wouldn't seem right as a full story, so here you go. My first stand-alone "one shot".**

**Reminder: This is post-PP. Like you wouldn't be able to tell anyway.**

* * *

My best friend, the Mayor. Now that's something to boast about. I never thought that _Tucker, of all people_ would be mayor of Amity, but hey, who ever thought I would be who I am today? Good point.

Anyways, Tucker was giving a speech at a new beach, and everyone was going. Now you're probably thinking, "What the hell?! The beach? In ILLINOIS?!" Yeah, man. It gets warm here in the summer. Warm enough to go the beach, that is. No, it's not an ocean-beach, but it's a beach all the same. It's fun. Even though I get mobbed in public and Sam gets jealous when other girls stare at me. I have to kiss her to remind her that I'm hers and she's mine. Frankly, I'm alright with it. The kissing part, I mean. Not the girls staring at me. Sam would kill me if I said that.

Honestly though, the attention was pretty cool at first, like all the people wanting my autograph, and the children who want me to sign their Danny Phantom plushies. That's so cute, I never say no to them. But lately, it's gotten kind of annoying, not being able to live in peace. Even my friends and family are suffering. They don't blame me. But I guess there's nothing I can do about it now. Live with it, I assume.

"Danny? You alright there?" Sam asks me. We're walking to the location of the speech, and Sam was apparently talking to me. I, of course, was thinking of other things.

I look at her. She's lightened up a little bit since we started dating. She wears less black, and even wears her hair up sometimes. She still wears dark colors, of course, and still doesn't eat anything with a face on it, but I'm fine with that. Right now, at the beach, her outfit is different from what she would have been wearing a couple months ago.

Her raven hair is pulled pack in a ponytail, and she's wearing black short shorts and a gray tank top. Her Oakley's are wrap-around, giving me no view of her amethyst eyes. She still smiles her perfect smile, and for now that's enough, as long as I can kiss her whenever we feel the need to. Her flip flops, black, may I add, make a sound that reminds me of summer. The hot air, the water, the sun. All of it. I love it. She does, too, I can tell. A few months ago, she would have been wearing a black cloak and a giant black hat. And to top it off, a huge black umbrella to shield her from the sun. Her skin used to be pale, but now it's got a light tan to it. Mine does too. While I still wear the same red and white t-shirt and jeans all the time, my physique has changed a little bit.

I am bit more muscular, but still super-thin. My mother tells me I need more hamburgers. I am not shirtless right now, but had I been, I would have gotten some looks. Sam would get livid. I'll save that for when we actually are going to swim.

I'm a bit taller, coming to about 6"2. I'm almost as tall as my father, who towers over everyone he meets. Being sixteen has given me the physical attributes of an adult. My face has angled a bit more, and my jaw has become tighter. I am constantly smiling, so I have small crow's feet around my eyes. Sam says I'm getting dimples. She thinks that they're cute.

My hair, being the same since fifth grade, when it started to become a whole lot less manageable, has stayed the same. Still pitch black, and when the need arises, white as snow. Sam loves to play with it when we just sit around. We do get to do that sometimes. That's what most of today is probably going to consist of. Just sitting around and enjoying the heat of summer.

My current attire, you ask? Probably not, I thought while we're talking about Sam and mine's physical appearance, I might as well talk about what I'm wearing.

I'm wearing a white t-shirt, which Sam picked out herself, from all the other white t-shirts I own. She said it accents my hair and eyes better. I almost responded with a, "Sammy, they're all the same," but decided against it because Sam would go into a rant about how that shirt was different from it's identical brothers. My shorts are swim shorts that Sam herself bought me. They are black and white. Mostly black though, with white trimming on their cargo short-like pockets.

"They look like your jumpsuit! All we need now is the DP logo and you'll be set!" She cried **(A/N: I just read that again and I make it seem like Sam like, actually CRIED when Danny opened the gift. She didn't tear up, I know that is kind of confusing, sorry!) **when I opened the package to the gift. I grinned at her and told that I don't need the logo on the shorts for people to know it's me.

My White Sox baseball hat covers most of my messy hair, but some sticks out the sides. Tucker says that it looks fine, but it makes me look kind of whipped that I let my girlfriend pick out my clothes to go to the beach. I glared at him until he started to laugh.

"Uh, yeah, yeah. I was just thinking about a few things," I say, and smile at her. She smiles back. We exchange a kiss, and I realize that we've arrived at the stage where Tucker is giving his speech about the opening of the beach. We pick up some drinks at a stand on the pier. Me, a water and Sam, a Diet Coke. I pay for both.

I got a job at the factory that Sam's father owns. Haha, you say, the ghost boy working?! Yeah, I drive now and my parents say I need to pay for the gas. I work at an assembly line, meaning I get some peace and alone time with my friends on the line. I keep the job because I've upped my work ethic somehow. I've been getting B's in school and I am a star employee. How I keep up with my job, school, personal life, and ghost hunting is beyond me. I guess it's just made into me, since I've been fighting ghosts for a little over a year now. Made me work harder at everything. Eh, I don't know, but I've been doing pretty good lately.

We are V.I.P.'s being how close we are to Tucker and make it easily backstage. There stands Tucker, reciting his speech over and over again. I sneak up behind him.

"Boo!" I say, and grab his shoulders. He jumps. Then, when he sees it's Sam and me, he smiles as hugs Sam. I hold out my hand for him to shake it, but he instead shakes his head and hugs me. Hard.

Tucker, too, has gotten bigger. No longer is he the little techno geek he was freshmen year. He has buffed up, too, and he now looks kind of like a Tuckerfied Will Smith. Tall and handsome, Tucker has found a girlfriend, Jessimae, and they are very happy together. His black glasses remain, and make him look like a laid-back Nobel Prize winner. He doesn't wear his beret anymore, but his hair is still a fade style, and I think it suits him. However, he does still work on computers and keeps up with the latest technology.

"Haha, I see what you did there," Tucker observes, "So, I've got to go on in a few minutes, but I reserved you guys some seats in the front next to Jess," he opens the white curtains, pointing at a couple seats next to his beautiful girlfriend. She beams at Sam and me, and we wave at her. We bid our goodbyes to Tucker, making plans to meet up after the assembly. We go to the front of the stage, and as sit down right as the curtains part and Tucker appears on stage, the crowd cheering. Why we get so excited over a beach opening, I don't know. We're Amity Park people, I guess.

After the speech, Tucker, Sam, Jess, and I all go to eat lunch at the Nasty Burger, and then Tucker returns home with Jess, claiming they've got a movie date today. We allow them to leave, and I sing something like "Lovebirds!" after them. Tucker sticks his mature tongue out at me, and we all laugh. Today will be a good day.

* * *

**(A/N: (From my profile) How does Percy Jackson take showers?)**

* * *

After we eat, we go to a spot we got on the beach, our towels still laying out just as we left them. Sam starts to strip down to her bathing suit, revealing a very beautiful body. A man would go crazy to get her, and if anyone else ever touches her, I've told her, I'll slit their throats. She laughed at this, saying that I would never take a life. I could not respond to this.

I take off my shirt, hat, and sunglasses, and as we run down to the surf, people start to laugh with us, saying that we're "crazy in love". It's true, I would go to the ends of the earth and back for Sam, and I would hope that she thinks the same of me. Sam and I are meant to be together, plain and simple.

I jump into the warm water, and dunk her down into it. She comes up gasping and punches me in the arm.

"Ouch..." I say, feigning hurt and rubbing my arm and pursing my lips until I laugh because I couldn't keep the facade. "Oh, shut up, Danny, that didn't hurt," Sam says, pushing me down into the water, and smiling, enjoying her revenge. I come up flailing around like a fish out of water, and Sam laughs at me. We retrieve a beach ball that we brought with us, and I find it to be deflated.

"Well, crap," I say, and proceed to blow air into the ball. Sam apparently thinks I'm taking too long and snatches the half-inflated ball out of my hands, grumbling something like, "You don't even have to breathe half the time, and you can't even blow up a freakin' beach ball," I laugh, and she glares at me.

"What?" I say innocently.

We go into the water, and hit the ball back and forth until I hit it a little too hard over Sam's head, and it goes over to a kid in some goggles that cover his entire face, making his lips stick out in such a way that makes me laugh. Then I remember that I used to look like that when I wore goggles as a kid. I shut up, but keep smiling as we both wade through the water to the little boy.

"Hey! You caught our ball! Nice catch, kid!" Sam says, as the little boy hands her the ball back. His mouth makes an "O", and I tilt my head in confusion. Sam turns to me, smiling like a madman. She laughs, and I am left dumbfounded to try to figure out why.

The little boy removes his goggles and blinks a bit in surprise.

"You?...you're Danny Fenton aren't you? And Sam. Sam Manson," the little boy revels at us. I blush. I actually kind of feel really good that this kid recognized me. Only because he recognized me as Fenton. Not Phantom. People seem to only want to pay attention to the half of me that they want to. This kid obviously chose Fenton over Phantom.

"Yes, we are. What's your name?" I ask him, holding my hand out. The kid seems like he's old enough to know how to shake hands, and I am surprised to find that he has a very strong grip.

"Oooo, strong grip. That's nice, kid," I say, flinging my hand.

"I'm Thomas. My mommy tells me not to talk to strangers, but I think you guys are okay enough," he says, beaming, "Sam! You're very lucky to have someone like him to be around all the time, even though he's probably a pain sometimes," Thomas tells Sam, and I feign betrayal.

"Huh? I thought you were on my side with this one, Thomas!" I say and smile. I ruffle the little boy's strawberry blonde hair. He's cute. I feel like I've already met him somehow...

"I feel like I have seen you somewhere before, Thomas, but I can't place you..." I say, and put a thinking hand on my chin, making Thomas laugh.

"You have silly! I was in the hospital burning down that one time. You saved me," the little boy beams. I remember. The kid was stuck in the recovery wing. The hospital was burning down, and for once, it wasn't anything supernatural. I flew in, and tried to find him. Back then, I didn't have my cryokinetic powers, so it was a little hard trying to get the flames to die down. I didn't have to breathe, so therefore I could not be harmed by the smoke, but the little boy did. I heard him screaming and I found him, and carried him outside and set him on a stretcher. The paramedics were immediately on him, trying to get the smoke poison out of his system. I had already flown out of sight, as the firefighters had saved everyone else, but I watched as the boy recovered, and his parents came to him. He was excited to tell them who had saved him, and I was relieved that he was alright. Little did I know that he was not alright. He had suffered severe burns to his legs, and I had no idea what had happened to him. Not only was this boy a survivor, he was also the very first person I ever saved.

I noticed now that the boy was moving kind of awkwardly, and I realized something that made me feel so ashamed that I almost passed out. The boy's legs were amputated. They were gone, and it was all my fault. I had let him stay in the fire too long and he had sustained terrible injuries because of it. He lost two of his limbs because of me. Suddenly I felt dizzy.

"Danny!" Sam exclaimed as I fell into her. The overwhelming sense of shame and guilt has made me absolutely out-of-it. I can't believe I let that happen. I was only fourteen then. I was just starting out. I barely knew how to turn intangible and invisible. I was starting to practice flying, which had come eerily naturally to me. I was just starting to come to terms with the fact that I was, and forever would be, half-ghost. I had decided just days before that I wanted to use these powers for something more than just payback or revenge. I wanted to use them for something good. It seems to have worked out that way. It's just...I felt so bad about letting this happen to poor Thomas.

Somewhere, deep inside of me, I knew that this wasn't really my fault. I had done the best that I could under the circumstances, but the best was clearly not enough. That place deep in me, the most logical place, which I was pushing farther and farther away by the second, was yelling at me, telling me to shut up about feeling bad, and tell the kid that I'm sorry about what happened. On the other hand, the kid looked happy. Like nothing in the world could bring him down. He seemed like a normal kid...I mean, he _is _normal, but he's...Jeez, this just got awkward. Anyway, he seemed like nothing had ever happened, like his amputations had had no effect on life for him. They had done nothing to hinder his happiness, if not help it. It seemed, I don't know how I knew this, but, it seemed that the prosthetic legs he wore now were actually boosting his self-confidence, and giving him more self-esteem. He seemed...Oh, I don't know...non-hindered. I don't even know if that's a word. And throughout all of this, I am knocked out in Sam's arms. That's embarrassing.

* * *

**(A/N: Epiphany time! :D)**

* * *

I wake up, holding my head. My eyes flutter open and I see Sam staring at me. She looks concerned.

"Are you alright, Danny?" she looks me over for any physical pains or anything of the sort. Nothing. I won't have anything wrong with me. Nothing except the nagging feeling that everything that ever happened to Thomas is my fault. Thomas! Where's Thomas?!

"Sam, Sam. I'm fine. Where's Thomas?!" I ask, sitting up. I'm still in my swim trunks, and Sam is still in her black bikini. She is still soaking wet. I look around for any sign of the child, but none is to be found. Then I see him. He's walking toward me, his legs moving just like normal legs, but somehow they are too jointed. They move too awkwardly. Thomas is carrying two ice cream cones, one with chocolate, and one with strawberry, my favorite.

"Hi, Sam, again," the little boy hands me the strawberry cone, and I must look confused because the boy smiles, "I asked Sam what your favorite flavor of ice cream was, and she said strawberry. So I got you some strawberry ice cream," the little boy looks proud of him accomplishment. Sam doesn't eat normal ice cream, and I'm sure they don't have the weird, tofu ice cream like she likes, so she didn't get any.

"Are you sure, Thomas? I mean, I don't want to mooch..." I trail off. The boy looks at me like I've just said something that deserves to be scolded for.

"Danny! I got you that ice cream, now you're going to enjoy it!" Thomas says very defiantly. I feign surprise, and he laughs, and nods for me to lick the ice cream. Mmm, strawberry. The cold settles my headache. I must have sighed, because Sam and Thomas laugh out loud. **  
**

"Thomas! Honey, come here." a woman's voice calls. Thomas's mother. She must be looking for him. I stand up and pick the kid up in my arms. He laughs, and I zoom around ducking and diving through the crowd of people, earning me some looks. **(A/N: Clarification- No, Danny is not flying.) **But it's worth it considering Thomas is laughing his heart out.

"Hey, m'am, I'm sorry, my girlfriend and I-" I start, but am cut off by the woman, who is very pretty and I notice Thomas looks just like her.

"Look, it's fine. I see he's back now, and I know you're good company. Oh, and Mr. Fenton? Thank you for saving him that night. I don't know what I would do without Thomas in my life," Thomas's mother interrupts. I nod, smiling, and walk back to Sam, who was waiting for me to return. She hands me my ice-cream and I envelope her in a passionate kiss, knowing that I will never forget this day or Thomas.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just a little tidbit, I wrote this on the way to the beach. Hahaha!**


End file.
